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Friday, April 10, 2015

Victoria's Designer Creations

Lately, I have been wanting to explore a little outside my waxy bubble of favored and tried and true vendors. In previous destashes I have had one or two Victoria's Designer Creation tarts, but I had never placed an order on my own, until recently.

The package did not arrive in the best condition, but that is in no way the vendor's fault. This is only the second or third time I have had a box arrive this insanely battered.

On her home page she lets you decide if you want shipping overages refunded or if you want extra product.The overages seem to run about double what typical shipping would cost. I was willing to try extra product, with my expectation being that the extra product would at least equal the overage.

I must admit I have been spoiled by most vendors who refund overages and/or include a sample. Or have reasonable flat rate shipping. Even with Vintage Chic Scents, who has flat rate shipping of $7.99, I know that I need to place a bigger order for me to feel comfortable paying that as my shipping rate. I am fine with that, plus she includes extra product, which is just extra cherries on top. But VDC shipping climbs and climbs with each additional item. Two small items cost more to ship than the value of the actual items. My overage was a little less than $5 (the label stated $5.25 to ship). My free item was $3.25. So profit is being made on shipping here.

On the positive side, the product arrived undamaged despite the USPS man handling, and looks beautiful and smells strong. Victoria has quite a talent for creating lovely waxy items.

I could not locate scent descriptions, so I wrote my interpretation of the scent composition.

I split one of these hearts among two warmers (one in kitchen and the other in the living room) and it had a nice medium throw for about 5 hours. The scent that emerged was very pretty and refreshing for an evening of reading and hanging with my girls.

Bayside Gardenias- A well blended creamy gardenia. Really a gorgeous and pleasing scent. This is not the coconut gardenia I am used to smelling. It smells more like gardenia and Banana Boat sunscreen. I very much dig it.

Winter Flowers- A stark white cotton linen scent with a blast of eucalyptus. Invigorating and unique.

Have you tried Victoria's Designer Creations? Would you rather an overage or extra product in this situation?

24 comments:

Since I was an online vendor for a couple years, I know it can be difficult to get some of the shopping cart programs set up for shipping. It is NOT hard to refund the overage though, and should be standard practice but so often it's not. I also think places with high flat rate shipping should have exceptions for tiny orders. It's a topic that's come up before in the wax community . . . making money on shipping . . . and I don't agree with it.

Shipping does seem to be tricky for vendors sometimes. There are so many variations of it!! Normally I am pretty chill about shipping and all it's inconsistencies but this time I could just not ignore it. It stuck in my craw like a thin bone I could just not swallow. But lesson learned. No more extra product.

I guess in this situation I would take the refund and then I could choose what I wanted to spend it on in my next order if there was to be one. I've heard some vendors say shipping cost should also consider their time to box and travel to the PO but if it were me I would build that into the price of the product, and then also give freebies of popular scents. The profit margin on tarts should be high enough that freebies would make sense in the long-term. And it's flat-rate already right?

Glad you like the scents, the sparkly centers are eye-catching. She sent you mermaid colors. :) happy Friday!

I just took a closer look at the invoice. Whew, I see what you mean now. I don't think this is a high volume seller right, why use a huge box? And the shipping is listed as UPS Ground! For heavy orders UPS might be cheaper but otherwise not.

P.s. and just saw this from FP: All shipping is now done real time on the new site. You will pay the current rate by weight. The more you order the better the deal. See the shipping page for info in the footer area of the site xxx

Nice, she was another one where I was doubtful on the shipping calculations but I ordered sporadically enough that I would just bite the bullet.

I knew she was working on her shipping rates. I am stoked to hear this!!! I hope I can get an order in with her in the next couple months. I knew shipping would be high with FuturePrimitive- it is coming across the big pond after all. But domestic I do have different expectations. You should see shipping to/from Singapore! Yowza! :-)

Typically I would choose extra product, but that would be assuming the extras would be worth the shipping overage or more. It irks me that she's getting pure profit from shipping. That shouldn't happen at all.Ever since I first entered the wax scene there have been horror stories I've read about VDC. Items never arriving, items not as described, overcharged on shipping, product not properly packaged... the list goes on. I never experienced issues with her in the two or three orders I'd made, but things just didn't sit right with me about the way this company has been running. Things not feeling right are why I've stayed away from a couple other vendors that are otherwise lovely. Take HHS for example.

There are stories about vendors for sure. I try to order and decide on my own merits but sometimes gut intuition is right on the money. I have a tiny handful of vendors that I won't order from again due to past experiences of my own.

Ugh. I had not heard of this vendor, but I am always bummed out by shipping that is (perceived by me as) exploitative. I've shipped so many photos from my Etsy shop, and I know that shipping is one of the most sensitive issues. You have to be very upfront about it. I would be really annoyed by this situation. There are too many other vendors out there to live with this, imho.

Exploring outside the waxy bubble is good every so often! I am sorry your box came smashed up, and I'm sure it's not VDC's fault, but still....happens very rarely with other vendors. Just sayin'! Maybe I am bitter, but still. I am glad you made a decision for yourself about this company, though. The shipping thing is a bit outrageous and I have to agree with Deb, not a fan of businesses profiting on shipping costs. It just seems super shady to me. Also, you're lucky nothing smelled like cigarettes! Why the hell would she shit these few tarts in such a big box? #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmm

The scents sound fantastic but VDC is so shady with their shipping policies I'd never purchase from them. A friend of mine opted for extra wax a while back and got like one tiny tart with a $10+ overcharge. idk I'm also picky with vendors in general now, there are so many good ones if I feel one is even slightly off I move on.

Jen you are right. I am excited that there are so many amazing wax vendors out there. And because they are all different, they fill different needs each customer brings to the table. I can see CDC being an awesome vendor for those who love highly decorative wax.

Hi Julie and everyone :-)... I am the owner of Victoria's Designer Creations and I just happened to stumble onto this blog. Julie, I am so sorry about this but I assure you it was an honest mistake. Im not sure if I had when packing the orders when your order was placed, if it was an oversight etc but what you got in with your order was the freebie and not what would've been for the shipping overages. I am truly sorry about that. Also, I understand its frustrating with high shipping charges. Unfortunately thats the way my website was set up. It goes by weight and it doesnt recognize regional rates etc... I ship the cheapest way I can and thats usually regional. Thats why the box was so big. Shipping in A regional A box was the cheapest way I could ship it out to you. Please accept my appologies and anytime you have a problem please email me or you can also message me on facebook. Again, I truly am sorry, Victoria

Also, I am very generous with freebies as well as extras for shipping overages. I always put in more than what the overages actually are. Please email me and Ill be happy to make this right with you <3... Victoria

Well Julie at least you got your package. I have been waiting close to 6 months and have received NOTHING from this vendor except excuses. If I could give her negative 5 stars I would. Who does that? I paid for a product that I never received. I will never order from here again. VDC is shady shady shady! I am really angry at the poor customer service and that fact that I spent my hard earned money and ordered in good faith. This is enough to sour me to vendor wax.

Oh no!! That is just plain awful. I am so sorry this happened to you. And since it is over 6 months you cannot file a claim right? :-( I can understand being leery of vendors now. I do only include reputable vendors on my wax reference page if you decide to give it a go again. But hey. We all know Walmart has some pretty great wax too, without any hassle. I hope she makes good on your order for you.